


Four Days On A Train

by Dupreerose



Category: Avatar (TV), Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 09:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8660797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dupreerose/pseuds/Dupreerose
Summary: Katara and Aang meet by chance on a train traveling from Gaoling to Ba Sing Se. A Tumblr prompt that took on a life of it's own. (originally written/posted Dec '14 - Jan '15)





	1. Day One

This merger had been a pain in her ass, but at least she didn't have to fly for this meeting. She was kicking herself for telling her father she would handle things this time around, but she had to get herself more established.

Sokka, her older brother, had handled these things while she was in grad school, but he really wanted to be in the labs, so she stepped in. She cursed that decision every time she had to go to a meeting in one city or another. Katara had been on a plane every other day for the past two months and she was sick of it, so when she had to go from Gaoling to Ba Sing Se she gladly moved the meetings back and booked a train ticket. She needed the time to unwind and seeing the countryside would be a nice change of pace.

She was surprised to find that the train was actually full and she was all the more happy that she'd had the forethought to get a sleeper car. When she arrived at the dining car she was told that they'd made a mistake with the reservations, and since she was dining alone the woman asked if she wouldn't mind sharing the table with someone who was doing the same.

Katara started to complain, but she stopped herself. She was hungry, and she really didn't want to eat in her room, so she agreed. As she followed the lady to the table she wondered who she'd be seated with. 'Knowing my luck it'll be some old, sweaty pervert who chews with his mouth open.' she groused to herself, but she couldn't be more wrong.

"I've got some company for you Baby." the woman said to the occupant of the table who had a laptop open and a tablet in hand concentrating over something.

At first all Katara could see was thick, wild, jet-black hair, but then he looked up and smiled at her "Hi. I'm Aang." he said happily, raising himself up as much as the booth would let him and extending his hand.

She couldn't help but smile as she put her hand in his to shake "Katara." she answered with a small bow of her head. He shook her hand firmly, not that weak handshake most men tried on her. She liked that.

"Nice to meet you." he let go of her hand and waited for her to be seated before he sat back down. "I'm sorry I'm not going to be very good company. I'm trying to get some work done. You're probably not all that excited to share a meal with some strange guy any way."

" Oh, that's okay." she said glancing down at the menu. She didn't mind at all, he was rather nice to look at, about her age, and he seemed to have manners. Katara was happy she decided to eat with him.

They put the order in for their drinks and Katara watched as Aang drew the stylus back and forth around the tablet, every once in a while smiling, or frowning at his screen. He finally put is down when the lady came back with their drinks, but only long enough to order his dinner and take a swig of the root beer he'd ordered, then he was back at his work.

Half way through her cola Katara finally said "That must be something very important you're working on."

"Only something that could make my whole future." he answered with a crooked smile and a shrug as he looked up at her through his eyelashes.

"Sounds stressful."

"Naw, it's not so bad." he held his head up and looked her in the eyes "See. I'm an artist. I've got a few little things under my belt, a few children's books I illustrated for a friend, a web comic I do, mostly for fun, but it's got a pretty good following." He looked at the tablet meaningfully "But this," he tapped the edge of the tablet "This could really get me established."

She smiled at his enthusiasm "I can tell you really like your work."

"I love it, but if I don't get this I'll have to get a" he held his hands up and made finger quotations "real job. You know something that'll turn me into a responsible stiff in a suit. Or I'll be flipping burgers somewhere, which would really suck seeing as how I'm a vegetarian." He looked at the polite look on her face "I'm sorry. I'm talking a lot, aren't I. So what about you? What do you do?"

Katara glanced down at her silver wear and drug her finger along the handle of the fork "I'm a responsible stiff in a suit."

He laughed a little "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."

She looked back up at him 'It's okay. No offence taken. So, where is this life changing job happening?"

"Ba Sing Se." he answered as she lifted her cup up to her lips "I'm pitching a new logos to the board of the Denali Group."

Katara's choked a bit on her drink at the sound of her family company's name.

"You okay?" Aang asked moving to stand and assist her.

She slapped herself on the chest a couple of times and held her hand up. "I'm fine. It just went down the wrong way." she cleared her throat "That's a pretty big company. You must be really talented."

"I hope so. My friend Toph set this chance up for me." he glanced down "I think I would be more confident about it is she wasn't blind."

Katara shook her head in disbelief and held her hands up "Wait. Toph? Like Toph Beifong. The author?"

"Yeah. You know her?"

"Yeah. I worked at this after-school program all through grad school. The little kids love her books. Especially Appa and Momo." he smiled hugely when she said the title "Hold on. Are you A. L. Gyatso?"

He rubbed the back of his head, obviously a nervous habit "Yeah. It's kind of a pen name though. It's just Aang Laghima. Gyatso is my dad."

She smiled at him "That's really nice. You must love your father a lot to put his name on your work."

"Yeah. I mean after he changed his whole life just so he could adopt me, that's the least I can do."

"That sounds like it's a wonderful story."

"It is. I was a ward of the nation, raised by monks, you know, and Gyatso was my main guardian. He trained me, taught me so much, but he also made sure I had fun, always treated me like a kid, ya' know." she nodded her head "When I was 12 the elders tried to separate us. They said the we were too close and I needed to concentrate on my training, so they were going to send me away."

"That's horrible."

"It was, but the good thing was Gyatso wasn't going to let me go. He rescinded his vows when he found out that a monk was not allowed to adopt and a little court battle later I had a dad" a wistful look came over him "My very own family." he looked at her "It's just the two of us, but it's still pretty awesome."

"That's amazing."

"Okay. I've told you my abridged life story, what about yours."

She held her head down, playing with her fork again "Not much to tell. Its me, my dad and my brother. Our mom died when we were kids. My grandmother helped him finish raising us. I got out of grad school a few months ago and now I work for my father. I'm on my way to Ba Sing Se to see some people." That was good, not the whole truth, but not a lie.

"Sorry about your mom."

She glanced out of the window "It was a long time ago."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt sometimes."

Her head turned back toward him and she smiled "Exactly."

"Okay you two, here you go." the nice woman said as she sat their dinner in front of them "Enjoy."

They both said "Thank you." and ate their meal. They spent the rest of the time talking about small things as they enjoyed their meals. When desert came Katara said "I'm so sorry. I've taken up all your time. You hardly got any work done."

"It's okay. This was nice. It's basically done. I'm just nitpicking now. I need this to be perfect."

"I'm sure it will be."

"I appreciate the distraction."

"We all need that sometime." Katara scooped up some brownie and ice cream and paused when she had an idea "Hey, you want to do this again tomorrow. Have breakfast I mean."

"That would be great."


	2. Day 2

Katara sat at the table and waited for her company to arrive. She was excited to spend more time with the interesting young man from the Air Nomad temple. When Aang arrived at the table he looked like he hadn't slept all night. His hair was still damp from the shower and now he was in a short sleeve shirt that showed the tattoos she had not been able to see the night before.

"Are you alright?" she asked as he sat down across from her.

He took his laptop case and his duffle bag off his shoulder, put them beside him in the booth and gave her a weak smile "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just working all night, that's all.

She gave him a worried look "Did you get any rest at all?"

"A little. I'll go back to my seat and take a nap after I eat."

"Why don't you just pull it out and lay down?" Katara asked.

"Would if I could." he shrugged "but those seats only go back so far. I should have sprung for sleeping car instead of that fancy shmancy suit."

He looked so pitiful sitting there, his eyes dark and droopy, she just couldn't help what she said next "I have a sleeper car. You can come and take a nap there if you want."

His eyes stretch at her "Why would you do that?"

"You look like you need some sleep."

"You don't know me. I could be some crazy lunatic."

She let out a little laugh "I don't think you are. Besides, it's not like I have to stay in there with you. You're a big boy, I'm sure you can nap by yourself."

He thought for a moment or two "Okay. I'll take you up on your offer. Thank you."

.~.

After a quick breakfast of waffles, Katara led Aang to her room. He was surprised at how much space was in the little compartment. There was a chair and a couch that faced each other and a bunk where Katara had stored her garment bag. There was even a small private bathroom.

"You can put your things up here," she motioned at the bunk "and the couch pulls out into a bed, so, you know, get some rest."

Aang smiled his eyes barely open "Yes ma'am." and he slung his things up on the top bunk "The couch is fine." he ran his hand up through his hair, pushing it back to reveal the tattoo on his forehead matching the ones on his arms and hands "So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go jog up and down the stairs until someone makes me stop." she answered with a chuckle "Gotta get that cardio in one way or another." she reached over to the bunk and grabbed the t-shirt and shorts she had sitting there "I'll just, uh," she pointed over her shoulder "go in here and change. You can make yourself comfortable."

Aang sat down "Okay. Thanks."

Katara stepped into the small bathroom as Aang lowered himself tiredly on the seat. There was so much more she wanted to know about this man she'd met at dinner the night before. The main thing she was curious about was the tattoos. She'd seen them before, mainly on TV and in pictures in text books. She couldn't quite remember what the symbolized, but it was something important, and Aang had them.

As she pulled her shorts on she wondered if the should tell him who she really was, Katara Gulkana, acting COO of the Denali Group. She was one of the people he was going to have to impress with his logo.

This was supposed to be her father's meeting, but he'd gotten the flu, so instead of being able to go home after Gaoling she was on her way to Ba Sing Se. But, if she hadn't gotten on this train, she wouldn't of met an entirely interesting, talented and handsome guy. As she tied her shoes she decided she wouldn't say anything, she'd just enjoy the train ride and learn more about this guy.

"Alright, I'll be back later." she said as she opened the door, but Aang didn't hear a word.

His long body was stretched out on the couch, an arm limp across his chest, the other slung across his forehead, one leg bent and the knee and the other dangling off the edge, his mouth slightly agape as he breathed steadily in an already deep sleep.

Katara eased out the door, sliding it closed as quietly as she could and headed to the nearest staircase for her workout.

.~.

It was a couple hours before she'd come back. She'd manage to run the stairs for 35 uninterrupted minutes, then she went to the snack bar for a juice. The train stopped at a station to let some passengers disembark, so she got off and bought a book, a couple of magazines, and a few snacks. She had to run to make it back in time, and on the way back to the room she wondered if Aang was still there. More than wondered, she hoped he was. They could have lunch in her sleeper car and watch a movie on her laptop.

Katara paused for a second, this was not like her. So far she had asked him to breakfast and invited him to sleep in her room. It was not like her to go after a guy, but she had unintentionally been doing it with Aang. If someone asked her to explain it she wasn't sure she could, there was something about him.

She couldn't help the grin from spreading across her face when she saw that he was still there. While she was gone he had flipped over onto his stomach, his body stretched out strait with his arms tucked tightly underneath his body. She wanted to push his hair out of his face and nudge his mouth shut, but she didn't want to wake him. Katara put her bags on the bunk and grabbed her clothes and a towel and went off to take a shower.

.~.

When she came out of the shower Aang was sitting up on the couch "Oh, I hope I didn't wake you up." she said as rubbed the towel across her head. When he didn't answer she pushed the hair out of her face and took a better look.

Aang was sitting in the lotus position with his fist touching in front of him. He was meditating. She quietly reached across him and took her new book down from the bunk, settling in the seat across from him.

Katara had every intention of starting to read her book, but she couldn't help glancing across the top of the book at him. He had this soft, peaceful, yet serious look on his face. She tried to focus on the words on the page, but she kept glancing up at him as if she was expecting something to happen. When it did, she didn't know what to do.

She looked at him over the book and all of a sudden his tattoos flashed a bright blue light. She gasped and dropped her book, both hand going up to cover her mouth, but not fast enough to keep a short, high pitched squeal from escaping her. He opened his eyes and the same glow radiated from them.

"Katara?" he asked, a soft look of concern crossing his face. But he didn't just speak in his voice. It sounded like a chorus of people with him standing in the front.

Katara clasped her hands tighter to her mouth and her eyes stretched wide as he stood up and walked slowly toward her. This supernatural being stretched his hand out toward her and she pressed back into her seat as far as she could. Slowly the glow began to fade and once again his eyes were gray and his tattoos were a pale blue.

"It's okay Katara." he said quietly, his voice back to normal "I can explain." his finger tips touched her and she flinched "I didn't mean to scare you. I just slipped. I'm still working on learning how to control it completely."

She lowered her hands to her chin "Control what?" she asked, her eyes still wide.

"I'm the Avatar." he said cautiously "I'm working on learning to control the Avatar state, but sometimes I slip."

"The Avatar?" her brows furrowed and she shook her head "That's crazy. There isn't such a thing. That's just a legend."

He smiled a bit "That's what a lot of people think." he stood up straight "but I am the Avatar."

Katara sat up a bit, defiantly "Prove it."

Aang held the back of his hands up to her and then lifted his hair with his right hand "I saw you noticing my tattoo's." her indignation didn't stop the blush from coming across her cheeks. He smiled "They mean I'm a master air bender." he waved his hand and a breeze went around the room. "I got these when I was 12. That's when they tried to separate me and Gyatso. They wanted to control my training in the other elements." Katara crossed her arms and huffed "After the adoption went through he took me to his friend Pakku to learn water bending."

Katara seemed to get angry at that statement "Bullshit. You do not know Pakku and there's no way you're a air bender and a water bender."

Aang reached out and with a swipe of his hand pulled the rest of the water from her hair. "So, you know Pakku too?" he asked with a smug smile on his face.

"You can say that." she said, making a motion and freezing the ball of water and catching it as it fell to the ground. "But I met him before you did."

"So cool."

"Okay, so maybe this avatar thing is real. You can bend earth and fire too?"

"Yes." he opened his palm and produced a small flame, then he snuffed it "I'll do earth for you when they stop for the layover.

"You slept though that." she said, trying not to sound as impressed as she was.

"Oh." he said, then made over exaggerated puppy dog eyes at her "So, are we friends again."

She crossed her arms "We never were friends," he pouted at her "but we're getting there."


	3. Day Three

Katara rubbed her eyes as she awoke. The day before had been nice. After her initial shock of finding out Aang was the Avatar, they talked more.

Over lunch they compared notes on training with Pakku. After that Katara told Aang more about her family and grad school. Aang told her more about training with Toph, who'd become his best friend, and the prince of the Fire Nation. They'd ended up having dinner in her room and watching a movie,.

She couldn't remember the end of that movie. She pushed her self up a bit and realized she'd been laying across Aang's lap. Katara sat up quickly and looked at him in shock. They'd fallen asleep while watching the movie, and he was still out like a light. She reached out and slid her hand across the table, finding her cell phone and looking at the time.

"It's 4 a.m." she muttered to herself as she scratched the front of her scalp "I can't believe I fell asleep."

"Hmmm" Aang moaned as is he were asking a question as he stretched. He opened his eyes and looked around "What time is it?"

"It's 4."

"Oh, man. Sorry I fell asleep on you. Guess I was still tired."

'Don't feel bad. I fell asleep too."

He stood up and stretched some more "Well I'll go back to my seat so you can get some sleep."

Aang reached for his things, but Katara stood up and grabbed his hand "You don't have to do that. It's already morning. You may as well stay here." he looked at her. She blushed at his silver eyes peering at her through the dark and was happy that the only real light in the room was the cell phone she was fiddling with nervously in her left hand "I mean you can have the top bunk, We can put our stuff in this little closet over here."

He blinked at her "Are you sure?"

She shrugged in the dark "Yeah. You've been here this long. You might as well stay."

He smiled at her "Thank you."

The next time Katara woke up it was to the sound of her phone ringing "Hello?" she answered in a groggy voice without even looking at the phone. It was her brother's voice on the other side of the line "Hey Sokka. What's up?" she rubbed her eye "How's Dad?…That's good…Yeah, still on the train." she rolled onto her back and stretched "Uh huh. I'll be there tomorrow…Yeah. I'll call you guys when I wake up a little more…Okay, later…Love you."

She sat up and rested her elbows on her knees, digging her nails into her scalp as if scratching it would take away the urge to go back to sleep.

"Big brother checking on you, huh?" Aang's voice asked coming from the direction of the little bathroom.

"Yeah," she yawned "He was just making sure everything was o-" she looked up and he was standing there shirtless, looking at her intently and glistening wet. She cleared her throat "um, okay, he was making sure I was okay."

"That's good." he said pulling his t-shirt on. She cursed that damn t-shirt "So how's your dad?"

"Much better. He's eating voluntarily, so that's pretty awesome."

Aang smiled that crooked smile he always did. "That's good."

She cursed that smile too, and his eyes, and that thick black hair for all coming together to make such a beautiful face that said all these interesting thing that made her want to spend more time with him. And now she knew that there were all these tight muscles lying under that damned shirt, and now she wanted to know what else she wasn't seeing.

"Katara, did you hear me?" he asked from the door.

"Huh."

That smile again. "I'm going to grab some breakfast, you want something?"

"Um sure, whatever looks good."

He closed the door behind him and Katara dropped her head into her hands. What the hell is wrong with me. He's just a guy on the train. 'Why am I so infatuated with him. It's been too long. Yeah, that's it. I haven't gotten any in way too long and a pretty face has me all discombobulated.'

She sat up straight 'Well you know what, I'm over it. I've got less that 24 hours left on this contraption, then that meeting, and I'll probably never see him again, so get over it.'

Katara got up and retrieved the day's clothes 'But he is so fine.' She shook her head and went to get ready for the day.

.~.

The two had another fun day together. They both got out at the rest stop and got a few things. This time they ran back to the train together, laughing as they ran. When Katara started to fall behind Aang he'd reached out and grabbed her hand. They got there just in time, barely jumping into the door before the conductor closed it.

Katara fell into Aang's chest, and they stood there for a moment that felt like forever, looking into each other's eyes.

"You two having a good trip?" the man asked with a knowing smirk as he verified their tickets.

"We are." they both answered, taking their stubs and heading back to the sleeper car.

.~.

"You've been here all this time, you may as well stay and get some rest. Your meeting is tomorrow, right." Katara said when Aang mentioned that it was getting late.

"It is," he answered with a nod, "but-"

"No buts. You said this meeting could make your future. You can't go in there looking like you did the other morning. I'd don't care how nice your suit is, that's not a good first impression."

He cocked an eyebrow "It is a nice suit though."

She laughed "I'm sure it is." she batted her eyes at him, not entirely unintentionally "Stay. You need a decent night's rest and I haven't had this much fun in a long time."

"Okay. I'll stay. Thank you Katara, I'm so glad I met you."

"I'm glad I met you, too."

The bed was still pulled out from the morning, so they just sat on it and watched another movie. About half way through Katara realized that Aang wasn't watching.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm just thinking about tomorrow. I'm a little nervous."

"Don't be. You're extremely talented. You should have faith in what you can do."

"I'm not that talented. I'm just a guy who likes to draw."

"But Appa and Momo was so amazing. I mean not just the story, the drawings, they were perfect."

He shrugged "Appa and Momo are my pets. Toph came up with this crazy story about them and I just drew some pictures because she asked me to."

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temple "Wait, you mean to tell me you own a bison and a lemur. You have the strangest life."

"I don't really own them, we kinda adopted each other."

Katara shook her head "That's astonishing." she looked at him through her lashes "You're astonishing."

Aang turned to her "You really think so?"

"Yes, I really do." Then, almost out of the blue she laid her hands on either side of his face and kissed him on the lips.

When they pulled apart the train care was nearly totally dark. They looked around "We're passing through a tunnel." Aang said .

"Yeah." she replied before he pulled her to him and they kissed again.

.~.

Aang and Katara laid side by side. What started out as a kiss soon turned into clothing thrown all over the little room and the laptop pushed to the side. The movie had ended a while ago and the menu music had started over for the umpteenth time. Aang held Katara's hand in his as his thumb glided across hers.

"Well that was unexpected." he said as he admired her manicure.

"Yeah." she sighed. She turned her head to him "You're very," she blushed a bit "limber."

His face flushed a bit as he smiled and looked at her "I do a lot of yoga. I figured you did too."

"No, but I need to start." she looked back at the ceiling.

Aang chuckled "Well I couldn't tell."

She smiled "That's good to know."

"Um before," he waved his hand around "all of this. I was wondering if I could see you while you were in Ba Sing Se. Like on a date." he looked up "We're kinda past a first date now, huh."

"Yeah, we skipped right over that." she looked over at him "If you still want to, I wouldn't mind."

He looked back "Great, then it's a date."


	4. Day Four: part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (notes from original posting)  
> I want to thank Gedordey from tumblr for giving me this prompt in the first place. If she hadn't sent it to me, I wouldn't of spent days thinking about it and I wouldn't of had the fun of writing this.
> 
> Whelp, this is the first part of the last day. Most of the story had been from Katara's point of view, but I think it's only right that the first half come from Aang's POV

Aang was excited about the day. Katara had told him so many times that everything was going to be fine that he had started to believe it. He walked down the street with his case and his duffel bag thrown across his shoulder, a smile on his face and a happy bounce in his walk.

When he saw the massive building down the street he knew he was close to his destination. It had been a bit of a long walk, but Aang wanted to see the city and he was happy he did. Everyone seemed to be in a rush. It was fun to watch the people scurry around and imagine where they might be heading. He laughed as he noticed a white and blue blur of a person running into a town car parked in front of the hotel.

He made his way to the hotel door and pulled out the piece of paper Katara'd given him with the name and address of the coffee shop they'd met at.

"Good morning sir." the doorman said with a small bow as he pulled the entrance open.

"Good morning." Aang chirped at the man with an infectious smile "Can I ask you a question, sir?"

"Yes, you can." the man answered. It wasn't very often that the people who stayed at this hotel spoke to him, not to mention was polite.

Aang held the piece of paper up to the man "Is this near here?"

The scanned the address "Yes, son. It's two doors down." he noted the penmanship "Have a date, do you?"

"Yes sir." Aang said happily "First I've got to ace this presentation, that way I'll have some great news to tell her."

The man smiled even bigger at Aang "Well I wish you the best."

"Thank you." Aang nodded to the man and went on to the front desk. He checked in and was informed that his things had already arrived and had been sent to his room. He thanked the desk clerk and went on his way.

Aang couldn't help but notice the other guest looking at him oddly. He knew he stood out like a sore thumb, but Toph had insisted on booking his room. Part of him thought that she's done it to be nice, but part of him figured she did it to make him squirm. She knew that a simple room would have been fine, but she insisted on booking him a room in the most expensive hotel in Ba Sing Se.

After a nap he took a shower and dressed in the clothes he'd bought specifically for this meeting. Mr. Beifong told him that he had to dress to impress or he wouldn't be taken seriously, so he sunk a couple thousand dollars into a expensive suit and accessories.

Once he was dressed he stood in the mirror. He raised an eyebrow at himself, then he stood up strait and turned left, then right. "I do look good." he said with a smile before he brushed his fingers through his freshly combed hair. He inhaled deeply before he gathered his laptop case and headed downstairs.

"Wish me luck, Sir." he said to the doorman as he walked out of the hotel.

The man gawked "You can't be the same kid who came through here a few hours ago."

Aang smiled "Yes Sir, that's me."

"You clean up good kid."

"Thank you, Sir. I'll see you later." Aang said as he waved and started walking away.

"Knock'em dead kid." the man called to him.

.~.

Aang arrived early, just as he'd been told to, and was led to the meeting room where he plugged his laptop into the AV system. "I see you made it. Good." A man said as he walked in. He approached Aang and extended his hand "Young Miss Beifong has told me a lot about you."

Aang grinned at the man as he shook his hand "Mr. Gan-Lan, it's great to finally meet you. Thank you so much for this opportunity."

"If you're half as good as the Beifongs say I'll be thanking you."

He went back to pulling up his presentation "So, what can I expect? From the executives I mean."

The man leaned against the desk "A bunch of old fogies." the man said causing Aang to look at him and smile "They make me look like I'm your age, all except for the one from The Denali Group."

"What's the deal with him?" Aang asked giving his files the once over.

The man shook his head "Not him, her. The big boss got sick, so he sent his kid. She's young and pretty, but don't let that fool you. That one, she's tough."

"Oh yeah?" Aang said with a chuckle as he finally looked up.

"She's a real pitbull. Nobody can get over on her. That's great for a kid fresh out of grad school."

Aang's heart skipped a beat as things came together; the boss got sick and his daughter, who just got out of grad school, was there in his place. He knew it was her, there were too many coincidences, but he had to hear Gan-Lan say it. "So what's her name." he asked trying to keep up his casual tone, but he was sure his voice cracked.

"Uh…Gulkana, Katara Gulkana"

Aang's heart dropped. All that time Katara knew who he was, that he had the meeting with her at the head, and she let him go on and on like a fool. They'd hung out, they'd kissed, they'd had sex and she didn't say one word. Why? Why would she let it even go past dinner? What was her game? Why would she let things go past that first dinner? He was confused and upset, but he couldn't let this affect his presentation. This was his life, and he wasn't going to let anyone toy with it, not even her.

.~.

Katara was happy that her last meeting had run long. She'd told one of the executives that if she was late to carry on without her, so maybe she could just sneak in. But there was no such luck.

"Ah, and this is our acting COO," Mr. Gan-Lan said as she tried to sneak into the darkened room.

"Fuck." she cursed under her breath.

"Miss Gulkana, this is our young artist, Aang Laghima."

She plastered on her best poker face and extended a hand to him "It's very nice to meet you Mr. Laghima."

She could see in his eyes that he wasn't pleased, but his bluff was as good as hers "You as well Miss Gulkana."

She gritted her teeth behind her tight lips as she made her way to her seat at the end of the conference table and sat down just as her brother's face appeared on the smaller screen on the opposite wall.

"Okay, now that the link has been made, we can start." Mr. Gan-Lan said and he gestured to the young man.

Aang stood sure and professionally as he spoke about the logo he'd created. Katara was so relieved that this meeting had not become awkward like she expected it would. Everything went along smoothly until she asked Aang a question.

No one else noticed it, their eyes were on the packets Aang had given them, but for a split second Aang's eyes flashed blue. He closed his eyes quickly and inhaled sharply to quell the slip. It was then that she realized that the Avatar wasn't as calm and collected as he pretended to be.

At the end of the meeting Aang thanked everyone for their time and left. Once the executives had given their opinions and left Katara sat and talked to her brother.

"I really don't see why you insisted on me being a part of this meeting." Sokka gripped "It's a slam dunk, the logo was great, you could of handled this."

"No," she said holding her head down "I needed this decision to be yours."

"Made me put a suit on for nothing." he grumbled, then he thought about what she had just said "Wait. Why does the decision have to be mine?"

"I met Aang on the train."

"So what…" Sokka noted his sister's posture "You like this guy, don't you?"

"Yeah." she admitted holding her head a little farther down. She finally looked up and saw the twisted look on her brother's face.

Sokka looked at his sister with a raised eyebrow and a skewed mouth for a few moments then he shrugged "Well, he seems smart, and he's talented as hell. I'm guessing he's nice."

"Very."

"And he likes you too?"

She smiled "He asked to take me out last night. We have a date for later." her expression turned sad "If he ever wants to see me again."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"I kinda knew he was coming for this meeting and I didn't tell him who I was."

"Katara!"

She flinched at the sudden loudness "I know, I know."

"Well, hopefully you can fix it. Maybe when you tell him he got the contract he'll forgive you."

"I hope so. I'll talk to you later. I've got one more meeting to hit before I'm due to meet Aang. I hope he's there."

"I think he will be. Even if it is only to chew you out."

She pursed her lips "Thanks a lot Sokka."

"Oh, and have the IT guy check the equipment. There was a weird flash toward the end of the meeting."

Katara's eyes stretched "Uh, yeah. I'll do that."


	5. Day Four: part two

She made her way to the coffee shop door slowly. He probably wasn't there. He probably never wanted to see her again. She knew he was most likely mad and she knew that he had every right to be.

Katara opened the door slowly and stepped in. She scanned the few people in the room, but she didn't see Aang. Even though she felt he wouldn't be there, she was still hopeful that he was. She couldn't help but feel disappointed that he wasn't. She made her way up to the smiling cashier.

'I may as well get a coffee while I'm here' she thought as the man greeted here "Yes, I'd like a chestnut praline latte and a butter croissant."

She slid her card and stepped over to wait when the barista at the end of the bar called out "Aang?" He came from around the corner and to the counter "Sesame noodles, almond croissant blossom, and a white chocolate mocha extra sweet?"

"Yes. Thank you." he said to the woman as he took his order with a small bit of a smile before he went back around the corner.

He hadn't even looked in Katara's direction. She didn't know if she was happy he didn't see her or not, but she knew she was glad for the opportunity to talk to him again. When the barista called her name she collected her things and walked cautiously around the corner.

Aang was sitting there, at the single table tucked away in the quiet nook, one of his long legs crossed over the knee of the other as he poked at his noodles. She'd thought he was handsome before, but the sight of him in a suit did something to her. She'd been to worried before to noticed, but the suit was indeed nice, and had obviously been tailored to fit him perfectly.

"Hello." she said sheepishly as she stepped up to the table "May I join you."

He didn't look away from his noodles "If you'd like Madam COO."

Katara sat down on the edge of the chair in front of him at the small, oval table "I was afraid you wouldn't be here."

"I almost wasn't." he mumbled, still focused on his food, before he put some into his mouth.

"I'm glad you did."

He finally glanced up at her "I was hungry. I skipped lunch. You see, that presentation was today." he looked back down "But you already knew all about that."

"Yeah, I did." she finally took a sip of her latte "It was awesome. Everyone agreed you should get the contract."

He smiled the tiniest bit and looked at her "Thank you."

"My brother said it was a slam dunk. He was a little mad that I made him attend the meeting."

"So why did you?" he asked putting his hands in his lap.

"Because I didn't want the way I felt about you to interfere with the decision. I didn't want to have a say in things." she held her head down "I didn't want you to think that, whatever the decision was, it was because of what happened between us. That's why I never asked to see your design."

"And why didn't you tell me who you were?"

She bit her bottom lip, then looked up at him through her lashes "At first I was just having a good time talking to you and I didn't want that to change, but then I didn't want to ruin what was happening between us. But I suppose I already did that."

He didn't answer her, just ate his noodles.

The longer the two of them sat in silence and ate, the more irritated Katara got.

Stupid, talented, jerk. she thought to herself He's just sitting there eating contently in his stupid tailored suit and his stupid sock monkey socks that match his stupid tie that's wrapped around his stupid neck that leads to his stupid handsome face and nice, stupid thick black hair. I can't stand him.

Finally she stood up and took up her pastry that was still in the bag "Well, you can come in whenever your ready tomorrow to see your contract. Mr. Gan-Lan will be handling any negotiations."

Aang swallowed his last bite of croissant "I'll do that. Thank you again."

She squinted her eyes at him "You're welcome." and she turned and walked away with a huff.

Katara grumbled to herself as she walked, and when she reached the boutique that sat between the hotel and coffee shop she noticed Aang's reflection in the store window. He was walking behind her, hands in his pocket as he took long, easy steps. She kept an eye on him as he kept walking and when she got near the hotel she stopped and turned around.

"First you don't talk to me, now you're following me. What kind of a creep are you?" she snapped.

He looked at her unconcerned "I'm not following you, I'm going to my room." he walked past her and closer to the door.

She watched him pass her and approach the door "There is no way you're staying here."

"Welcome back my boy." the doorman said as Aang approached. Aang looked back at Katara and smirked "I wasn't expecting to see you back here before my shift was over. What happened to your date?"

"Oh, she wasn't who I thought she was." Aang answered. Katara crossed her arms over her chest and turned up her nose.

"Sorry to hear that." the man said shaking his head "Did that other thing go good?"

"Yes Sir. It went perfectly."

"That's great then." the man opened the door "You have a good night."

Aang walked by and clasped the man on his shoulder "You too."

Katara walked in, not far behind him and hoped that he didn't go to the elevator, that he had a floor level room, but there was no such luck. She stood behind him and hoped that someone else would come before the elevator got to them, but again, no such luck. He stepped on and she waited a few moments before she got on and pushed the button for the thirty-seventh floor.

"Who's following who now?" he asked. When she turned her head he was leaning against the wall, his hands still in his pockets.

She turned back to the door "My room is on the thirty-seventh floor." she grumbled. Her fist balled by her sides and she turned around "What is your deal? Tell me you're mad. Chew me out, but say something." she stepped closer to him "I know I didn't tell you I was the one you were meeting with and I know I was wrong. If you need to tell me that, then do it. If you want to yell at me, do that. You can't tell me these past few days meant nothing to you because I know they did."

He stood in his place leaning against the middle of the wall just looking at her with an expressionless face and it irritated her to no end "Don't you have anything to say?" she snapped and he only raised an eyebrow "Ugh. I don't know what I was thinking! You are such an assh-"

Before she could finish his arm had snaked around her waist, pulling her body into his and his lips were on hers.

She fell into the kiss for a moment, reveling in his hands gripping onto her and her body leaning into his, but then she pushed away and looked at him angrily "You barely speak to me, and then, when I yell at you, you kiss me? You are so-"

She looked into his eyes and abandoned the rest of her sentence, opting to grab the sides of his face and kiss him again. They didn't feel the elevator stop, or hear the doors open, but the older woman clearing her throat caught their attention.

Katara turned around and stood up straighht "Oh. Excuse us." she said before she reached back and grabbed Aang's hand, pulling him into to hallway. She pulled him up close behind her and he placed his free hand on her hip "What room are you in?' she whispered over her shoulder and the walked down the hall.

"3715, you?"

"3728. Yours is closer, we're going there."

"Yeah." he said reaching into his pocket and producing his keycard.

He opened the door and let her step in first. Katara grabbed Aang's lapel and pulled him in, pushing him up against the closing door and drawing his bottom lip between hers.

She pulled back a bit and held her nose close to his "Have I told you how much I like your suit?"

"No, you haven't." he answered, his breath dancing across her lips.

She looked down at his chest and smoothed the rumpled lapel out with her opened hands "It's very nice, and it looks really good on you," she looked up into his eyes "but it would look better on the floor."

"I agree."

Katara took a step back and Aang straightened himself and watched her as she push his jacket over his shoulder and down his arms. He did 's move, just kept his eyes on her while she carefully loosened his tie.

"I like this." she said as she pulled it slowly from around his neck, then looked up at him.

"It matches my socks." he smirked.

She laughed "I noticed."

Aang put his hands on her hips and slid his hands up under the peplum of her shirt to the top of her skirt "I knew you were checking me out." he breathed as he reached around and unzipped her skirt.

Katara had moved on to unbuttoning his shirt "I was."

"That's good to know."

They started moving across the large room to the luxuriously plush bed that sat against the wall. They left a trail of crumpled business attire behind them, the last things to fall a pair of red, yellow and white plaid boxers and baby blue lace panties.

The act of taking the layers of clothing off of each other had slowed them down, and they laid facing each other sharing small kisses and gentle caresses. Aang's fingers glided down the raised scar Katara had from having her appendix removed when she was nine. Katara's fingers explored the tattoos that lined his body.

His hands slid up the side of her body and his fingers buried in her hair as he moved over he, their lips intertwining once again. Sweet caresses turned into yearning gropes and longing groans once Aang settled himself between Katara's thighs, his hardened head brushing against her clit.

"Do you have any more protection?" she exhaled into his ear and he reached over to corner of the bed where his duffel bag sat opened.

She sucked on her lip to bite back a moan as his length moved against her while he dug through his bag. Aang smiled at how Katara was doing a poor job at trying to hide what she was feeling and leaned over to kiss her.

Once Aang found what he'd been looking for, he didn't waist any time.

With the wrapper cast aside and the condom in place, Aang slid into Katara's center slowly, both of them gasping at the sensation. Her hand gripped into his hair and his mouth latched onto her ear with a moaning hum as the found their rhythm together. They moved together slowly, fingers pressing into whatever skin they could reach, moths and tongues doing the same.

He hitched her right leg into the crook of his elbow and lifted up to his knees while her left leg curled around his right. Aang leaned down, their foreheads touching and he thrust into her repeatedly as her hips came up to meet his. The scant light in the room reflected off their glistening skin and she pulled his mouth to hers for what ended up being more of a moan than a kiss, one that sounded a hell of a lot like his name. Aang groaned in return, his eyes closing tightly and his thrust quickening.

Katara grasped onto him, on hand pressed tightly arm while the other held on to the back of his neck. Her nails dug into his skin and she pressed her face into his neck, calling out for him again as she was pushed over the edge.

His arms shook as he tried his best not to just collapse on top of her. He laid on top of her slowly, both of them fighting to catch their breath, both trying to hide the goofy smiles on their faces. Eventually Aang moved to Katara's side and laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

Katara rolled onto her side, "Does that mean I'm forgiven?" she cooed into his ear.

He laughed "I suppose. But then again, I wasn't all that mad at you."

"You weren't?"

He looked at her "At first I was, but I walked around for a while and thought about everything. I understood it, but I was still a little hurt."

She propped her head on her hand "That's why you didn't talk to me at the coffee shop?"

"At first," he grinned "but then you started getting all irritated and I thought it was funny, so I kept going."

She pushed him "You're horrible. So you were just going to let me leave."

Aang shrugged "I know where you work, I would of come talk to you tomorrow."

"And what if I wasn't there?"

He turned onto his side "Then I would have found you. Lucky for me Toph booked me a really nice hotel room."

She smiled "Yeah. I really need to meet this friend of yours."

"I'm going back to Gaoling before I go home. If you're not busy you can come with me."

Katara studied him for a moment "You're serious?"

"Yes. I am." he placed his hand on her hand "Will you come with me?"

"I don't know. I told Dad and Sokka I was coming home after this. They probably have meetings and all kinds of work lined up for me, and" she looked into those dreamy gray eyes "and" then the soft, hopeful smile on his face "And I'd love to."


End file.
